Devastation
Haiti would have been entirely unprepared for the earthquake, such events being probably quite rare in the region, not to mention decades of endemic poverty and governmental corruption. I don’t doubt that the death toll will be terribly high and that recovery will be a very long time coming. I can’t even imagine coming back from this without some very open and forthright assistance from the wealthy nations of the world. I worry that the response will be great pledges of aid that come to little actually spent and less spent where it’s really needed. This is often the problem with underdeveloped countries with entrenched governments with high levels of corruption or despotism, that they insist on sovereignty and keep much of what passes through their hands, favoring this contractor or that who themselves operate similarly, not to mention that charities and even donor nations have “administrative” costs built into their pledges. A million dollars pledged in aid isn’t a million dollars spent on the ground rebuilding homes and hospitals. A better system is needed. Humanitarianism needs to be more open at both the giving and receiving ends.
Meanwhile, could God please call Pat Robertson home, heaven or hell, I don’t care, just please get him off the planet: who knew that Toussaint L’ouverture was the Devil? (Maybe if a white man had freed Haiti from the French it would have been o.k. with Pat?)
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2 comments:
Do you get "The Daily Show"? they did a nice number on Pat Rpbertson and then threw Rush Limbaugh into the fire, too. What a couple of turkeys they are!
My neighbors spend a couple of weeks twice a year at a girls'school just north of Port Au Prince, outside the worst hit area. It is supported largely by her local (Myrtle Beach), Presbyterian Church. She already knows that the school is undamaged and the children safe although these children are already so poor that they did not have much to loose if their homes were destroyed. The children and their families are all safe but there will still be terrible hardship and when I suggested that the school might become a shelter for others, Cynthia didn't think so.
I was watching the CBS News last night and there was Catholic Relief Services (CRS), handing out huge packages of food and water to all the people. when Dad was in the shipping business he always noted that CRS always seemed to be whereever natural disasters struck first with the most. We'll send our donation to them.
I've been watching this horror unfold. You're right, they could not have been "prepared" due to poverty, governmental corruption, etc.
I am horrified to see people being shot for "looting" when all that will do them any good is food that will spoil anyway! Most of the goods are under tons of rubble and the shopkeepers can salvage little. I suppose that taking jewelry for resale might qualify as theft, but all they want to buy is food.
If I owned a store in a situation like that and I had food, bandages, or building supplies, I'd just open the door and give it out. If my neighbors starved, what business would I have, any way?
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